Posted on 05/02/2003 7:10:18 AM PDT by slomark
Thursday, May 1, 2003 5:30 p.m. PST
William Morris Agency brings down web site critical of anti-war celebs
HollywoodHalfwits.com
The web site Boycott-Hollywood.us was shut down today due to legal measures brought by attorneys on behalf of the William Morris Agency, which represents various Hollywood celebrities. The web site was known for providing a platform for the public to exercise their free speech rights by commenting on actors who criticize President Bush and the war efforts. Apparently, free speech is a one way street in Hollywood.
The law firm Rintala, Smoot, Jaenicke and Rees appealed to domain registrar Dotster.com and NamesDirect.com to discontinue service to the web site. Before their demise, the site managed to publish an image of the letter sent by the law firm, which threatened that the “persons responsible for the www.boycott-hollywood.us website may be liable, both criminally and civilly, for a variety of offenses."
Just before being brought down, the website's home page stated, "Apparently, our domain registrar (namesdirect.com - subsidiary of Dotster.com) has caved to the pressures of the William Morris Agency giant. On April 29, 2003, Dotster.com received a letter from the William Morris Agency in regards to this website. Their complaint accused us of libel and potentially other civil and criminal offenses."
Where are Tim Robbins and the ACLU when you need them?
The message continued, “I can say only this - - the fact that we're being shut down because of the William Morris Agency tells me that we truly touched a raw nerve in someone, somewhere. At the very least, it tells me that our message was received by the people that it was intended for. The very fact that we cannot express our opinions regarding the views of these stars/celebs shows me, yet again, the double standard that exists in Follywood.”
Boycott-Hollywood’s owner continued, “This is another fine example of how Hollywood feels that their opinion and view is the only one that matters. Average citizens are disallowed the free expression of our point of view because they don't like being challenged for their views. I stand firm on the belief that we have done nothing wrong at this website - - The celebrities have expressed their views, and we have responded in kind by expressing our views regarding the thoughts and ideas that they have, publicly, expressed.”
It seems there was a “legal” technicality that allowed Dotster to inactivate the domain name. The site owner explains on the web page: “Dotster.com has suspended our update information at this domain and have informed us that the DNS information of this domain has been changed and the website will be down within the next 24 hours and our contract with them is now null and void. They are doing this because we did not provide accurate contact information in their public database.
“When I explained that the reason we did not provide accurate contact information is because we have received multiple death threats and I did not wish for just anyone to have my personal information - and asked them for suggestions on what to do - Dotster was unmoved. They did not give me the chance to update the information with accurate information and keep the domain. That's not an option - - they are just simply going to shut down our domain - no explanation needed.”
Hollywood Halfwits spoke with the owner via e-mail today and she insisted that she never received a warning, which she indicated was required according to her agreement. We checked their agreement on their site and it stated that a domain name owner has 15 days to respond to a request to update the contact information. In addition, Dotster did not give the domain owner time to move the registration to a competing registrar; they have effectively prevented them from moving the registration for as much as 60 days.
The discussion forum at www.HollywoodHalfwits.com was buzzing today after the news was announced. The general feeling is that William Morris Agency has just caused the critics of Hollywood to be more vocal than ever. One member’s post was representative: “You know I’m sure they think they've won some sort of ‘victory’ not knowing they have only fanned the flames of outrage even higher.”
Copyright 2003 HollywoodHalfwits.com Hollywood Halfwits LLC
http://www.hollywoodhalfwits.com/inhouse/boycott1.shtm
(Excerpt) Read more at hollywoodhalfwits.com ...
It seems there was a "legal" technicality that allowed Dotster to inactivate the domain name. The site owner explains on the web page: "Dotster.com has suspended our update information at this domain and have informed us that the DNS information of this domain has been changed and the website will be down within the next 24 hours and our contract with them is now null and void. They are doing this because we did not provide accurate contact information in their public database.
That is not a technicality. It's a contractual requirement imposed by ICANN on all domain registrars.
GoDaddy.com has a way to register a domain and keep the true owner's name off of the registration - ownership by proxy.
Wouldn't they squeal if the President (for whom such an act would be totally beneath him) sued their butts for analogous reasons. I bet they would fall back on their First Amendment rights, but deny it to us and the President.
I would call them cockroaches if it wouldn't elevate their status in the world.
I think we need a list of "celebrities" represented by the William Morris Agency.
Unless the site was using the likenesses of the persons for profit, or there was clearly malicious intent to fraudulently defame these phonies, the so-called "stars" made themselves public personages when they took the platform and crusaded against the war. That puts a huge burden of proof on them if they wish to prosecute a case for libel.
Furthermore, since the site itself is only providing the FORUM, not the CONTENT, action for libel cannot succeed against them.
What happened here is William Bore-us tried to threaten the site owner but couldn't find the true contact information. So they opted to bully the domain provider instead. But make no mistake, their goal was to squelch criticism of their stable.
This needs to go national. Get it to Limbaugh or O'Reilly posthaste!
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